Tesco’s UK stores has reported a slower rate of decline in sales thanks to its plan to stem the number of customers choosing discounter stores such as Lidl and Aldi. The business has made progress as UK sales only fell 1.3% for the three months to the end of May, which is lower than the 4% drop a year ago.

Analysts were also proven wrong as they forecast Tesco to make a fall of 1.6%-3%. The UK result is an improvement on the 1.7% fall that was reported in the fourth quarter of the financial year.

In April, the supermarket giant reported a huge loss, making that result the worst in its history. Mr Lewis took over the helm in September and is still trying to revive the company but it will take time. It has not been a good year for Tesco and the loss it made was one of the largest in UK corporate history as it reported a full-year pre-tax loss of £6.4 billion. It also said that 43 of its stores would close because around £4.7 billion of the losses were the result of the fall in property value of its UK stores.

However, these issues are slowly being resolved and Tesco could be on the rise again. Including its international businesses, group sales did drop 1.3% in the quarter, which is better than a 3.4% dip a year ago.